Malavai Quinn, Captain for the Fury-class vessel the Violet Rose, fiddled with the small velvet box he had been holding for the last hour when it arrived. Somehow he managed to take it and secure it safely in the pocket of his trousers. It had taken him months to come up with and find the perfect engagement ring for the true mistress of the ship and he prayed to whatever deity out there who would listen that the redhead liked it. Quinn had quite a collection of deeds to atone for and, for all intents and purposes, he should be dead as a result.
As the captain walked through the ship he reflected on the years that he had been stationed here and the changes that had been made during that time. Four souls made and called this ship home and the interior was renovated enough to accommodate this fact. The blue twe'lik, Vette, and Nathrrya's apprentice, Jaesa, were about the same age and had taken to one another rather well. As such the two girls shared a room together and were like sisters.
The galley was expanded to include a small dining room with a table large enough for the four of them and two extra guests. The sitting room with the general Holocom was converted more into a briefing room for the crew. The room that had been the conference room was the sitting room, set up with a connection to the HoloNet and some relatively comfortable couches and lounge chairs for leisure time.
The storage room was partitioned off and used jointly for the work spaces of himself and Nathrrya where they would confront and tackle the seemingly endless mounds of paperwork that their missions seemed to accumulate more and more of.
One thing that Quinn did notice was the slowly increasing feminine touches the ship would have. While most were tasteful and subtle, they were still indicative of female occupancy and at times this made it difficult for Quinn to be the only male on board. 2V-R8 didn't count.
The old barracks had been remodelled into Quinn's personal quarters with a good sized bed, a desk, his wardrobe and a small 'fresher for his own personal needs. Over the last eight months he had been spending more and more time in this room on his personal time as consequence for the incident. Nathrrya had Vette reset the security lock on her own door and forbade Quinn from entering her personal quarters, even for business purposes. Everything of his that had been in there were promptly removed and returned to him. Quinn recalled the level of finality he felt when Nathrrya put the last box on the floor at his feet.
He was damning the rules for this particular visit. It was obvious that he had a very daunting mountain to climb and over the time past he felt more and more progress was being made to earn the trust back from Nathrrya. It was no simple challenge to overcome and he had cried, sweated and even bled for the chance to once again sleep beside the woman he loved - whom he still loved with all of his being.
He stood outside of the door to Nathrrya's quarters. It was closed, as usual, and he was able to hear voices on the other side with one of them being Nathrrya's smooth dialogue. Listening he knew that neither Vette nor Jaesa were in there as they were already accounted for. The redheaded Sith had to be talking to someone on her personal Holocom. Including his thumb, Quinn could count the number of people who had access to that secure frequency - not even Darth Baras had access to Nathrrya's personal comm.
For some reason the scenario seemed rather worrisome to the captain. He then wondered if coming to see her now was even a good idea.
"Do you still love him?" Casavir, Jedi Knight, Hero of Tython and Nathrrya's cousin asked as he rubbed his beard in thought his holocom image flickering slightly every now and then.
Nathrrya sighed. "Yes Cas, I do. I've lost count of the amount of times I've cried myself to sleep because my room feels so empty without him."
"Damn girl." Kira said. "You have it bad. How do you even manage?"
"With great difficulty at times." The Sith replied ruefully. "I remember my parents, Marrick and Ro'wan they were never afraid to show their love for each other. Nothing over the top mind you and they had disagreements but nothing like what happened with Quinn. I'm going to have to make sure I kill Baras as slowly and as painfully as I can for what he'd put both of us through." She sighed again "Is it so wrong to still want that with Quinn?"
"Be careful Nat, don't lose yourself in a quest for revenge on your former master." Her cousin said with a great deal of concern. "I know it's the Sith way but it's not the Therin way."
The woman smiled. "Don't worry Cas I'll be careful."
The Jedi nodded. "Good, you may have been trained as a Sith but you're still family."
"It's not wrong to want to be with the man you love, Nat even if he was forced into a no win situation." Kira said. "Me and the tough guy, we do alright. But seriously you still call the guy Quinn after how many years? I'd have thought by now it'd have been 'Mal' at least if not some horrid pet name."
Nathrrya chuckled for it did sound silly. "I'll start calling him Malavai when starts calling me Nat or Nathrrya. In all the time I've known him he's always called me 'my lord' and nothing else. It's infuriating at times."
"Wow that'd have made flirting... awkward." Kira said trying to imagine how that'd even work.
Nathrrya's chuckles became soft laughter. "You have no idea Kira, no idea at all. On the plus side he was always wonderfully embarrassed." Her laughter subsided. "Thanks you two I just needed to talk otherwise I'd burst."
"Hey that's what family and friends are for right tough guy?" Kira said smirking. "Got to help keep the big bad Sith on the straight and relative narrow now don't we?"
Nathrrya snorted in amusement. "So says a Child of the Emperor who gets to have her wicked way with the Hero of Tython." Kira just grinned in response while Casavir shock his head ruefully at the women's antics. "I'll call again when I get the chance. Stay safe you two."
"You keep out of trouble as well Nat. Talk soon." Casavir said as his and Kira's holo images faded from view. Silence descended and it wasn't long before Nathrrya became aware of a presence at her door. She knew almost instantly who it was. She found herself curious as to what Quinn wanted as he'd been stood there for some time yet he hadn't knocked or made any other attempt to let her know he was there.
The Sith got off her bed and walked to her door.
Quinn was about to turn away from the closed door when it suddenly opened and there stood Nathrrya looking at him questioningly. "What are you..." she never got to finish.
Before all his confidence left him Quinn quickly knelt on one knee and as he did so withdrew the small velvet box from his trouser pocket, turning and opening it to display its contents to the woman standing over him.
"Would you do me the honour of considering being my wife, Nathrrya?"
All Nathrrya could do was simply stare in shocked silence at what was clearly an engagement ring sitting in the velvet lined box that Quinn held aloft. Whatever she'd thought that Quinn had wanted this hadn't even been in sensor range.
Slowly Nathrrya reached out and took the ring from its box and inspected it before trying it on. The ring itself was silver and there was a round silver mount but it was the gem that sat snugly in the mount as if had always been there that took her breath away. It was a perfectly round highly polished cabochon cut piece of violet lightsaber crystal. The same colour as her own lightsaber.
The smile she gave him must have been answer enough for Quinn stood and pocked the now empty box before he put his arms around her and said "I love you Nathrrya."
"I love you to Malavai." Nathrrya said as she gently kissed him on his cheek moles before she gently pulled him into her quarters.